Halo: Warhunt
Halo: Warhunt is a first-person shooter game in the Halo franchise developed by and for the current console. It is the thirteenth installment in the Halo series franchise. Halo: Warhunt is standalone, taking place in between the events of and . It is, however, easy to be picked up by new players, and serves a an introduction of sorts into the Post-War Era. As with most Halo games, the rating is ESRB "Mature 16+" instead of the "Teen" rating for more recent games. Revealed at E3, 2018, along with , the game was largely overshadowed by it's mainline cousin, but the release date was given out earlier, preparing to launch on October 9, 2019 worldwide. 343 Industries revealed that the game would run on 1080p 60fps, and would have four player splitscreen available. Compared to other Halo games, Warhunt has one of the largest multiplayer platforms, with the three major aspects being Arena, Warzone, and the return of Firefight. All of these games have various modes, as well as custom games, and an overhauled Forge. All of the aspects of multiplayer are grouped into the canon "War Games" aboard the UNSC Infinity. The armor customization is similar to , but consists largely of armors from the instead. Credits are the currency in Warhunt, and are earned by playing Campaign missions and Multiplayer matches. Reqs have not been completely removed from the game, rather appealing to fans by removing microtransactions and making it so players can use earned credits to buy armor, weapon, and vehicles Reqs in the Spartan Hub for use in Warzone and Firefight. The game shares the same Spartan abilities as Halo 5: Guardians, keeping the player very mobile. Halo: Warhunt operates very similar to Halo 5: Guardians in the fact that all updates are free, and has had 4 major updates over the years as well as 27 minor ones. The major updates have all featured new maps and weapon variants, and one even introduced a new armor set and weapon. Plot In early July, 2558, The Spartan IV team Fireteam Caliber suits up for a mission to take out a Covenant defense spire. The team's rookie, a new Spartan Recruit known only as Caliber Five, is subjected to a training tutorial before the mission. Afterwards, Five is greeted by the various members of the fireteam, before deploying from a Pelican into a barren desert where the Covenant are located. After eliminating the enemy patrols, Caliber moves in on a pair of AA guns defending the the spire. Five is sent along with Spartan Julia and Spartan Jaques to take out the Covenant forces guarding the first AA gun and destroy it, while Fireteam leader Spartan Cadence and Spartan Liana go for the other one. After the AA gun is down, Five and his/her two companions infiltrate the Spire and deactivate its defenses while Cadence and Liana take control of the second AA gun, preparing to use it on an incoming CRS-class light cruiser. The cruiser deploys a number of Banshees and Phantoms, however, and Five must fend them off by fighting more Covenant on the way to the AA gun to assist Cadence. After destroying a considerable number of enemy fighters, more come, and the team is overwhelmed and defeated. After they are defeated, it is revealed that the entire conflict is only a War Games simulation, and Fireteam Caliber is congratulated for setting a new record on surviving the longest in the particular simulation. They then meet up with Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer, who briefs the team on their next mission: To investigate a seemingly abandoned Covenant command outpost housing a large storage of Prometheans. Travelling to the planet Kalincton, Fireteam Caliber ventures through the jungle, eliminating Covenant forces, before eventually reaching the site. After infiltrating the structure, Caliber Five is paired with Jaques to fight through close quarters to reach the storage bay. Upon reaching it, the pair find out that the majority of the carapaces are gone, leaving only a single Knight Battlewagon remaining. After it awakens and activates the Forerunner defenses in the bay, Caliber Five and Jaques are forced to combat the Knight an its small host of Promethean Crawlers, finally taking down the construct. After the rest of the team locates the command base's archives, it is discovered that the Zealot in charge of the base, Field Master Grono 'Yendam, left with the majority of the Promethean carapaces shortly before Caliber arrived. Fighting their way back through the jungle, the team holds off multiple waves of Covenant ground vehicles from the LZ before a Pelican arrives to pick them up. Features Main Menu The Main Menu serves as a table going from left to right, with Campaign, Multiplayer, Forge, and Settings, respectively. The background is an orbiting view of Infinity as it traverses around an unknown planet. The Campaign box's symbol is a grey flag with the emblem of a Sangheili skull on it, while the Multiplayer one shows a grey Spartan Recruit helmet with a black visor. The Forge icon shows a hammer striking an anvil, while the settings symbol is a ten-toothed gear. Pressing the Menu button will show the Spartan Hub, where there are the following options in order: Customization, REQs, Career, and Store. Campaign Menu The Campaign Menu is a vertical up-to-down table that lists through the ten Campaign missions in order. Selecting the wanted level will bring up a description of the level, as well as another vertical table of options. At the top of the second table is the difficulty selector, with Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary modes. Easy Mode's icon is a circular Kig-Yar shield. Normal's is a shield with an energy sword laying upon it, and Heroic's has two energy swords instead of one. Finally, Legendary Mode's icon is Heroic's with a Hesduron Sangheili skull atop it in a Jolly Roger fashion. Below that is a horizontal skull list, with all unlocked skulls shown. After that is the Scoring mode, with either Team, Free for All, or none at all. At the bottom is the Start Mission option, which will activate a five-second countdown that can be stopped by tapping X. Multiplayer Menu The Multiplayer Menu is vertical in the same sense as the Campaign Menu, with the Campaign missions replaced by the three main Multiplayer options, Arena, Firefight, and Warzone. Clicking into Arena will bring up two classes, Social, and Competitive. Choosing either one will locate the player to the different game types for the respective category. There might be sub-game types as well, and a countdown will initiate once a mode is chosen. For Firefight, either Matchmaking or Custom can be chosen. When bringing up matchmaking, the player will be teamed up with three other players, and depending on the mode, can press the left or right bumper to switch teams. Pressing Y will show what REQs are available on the Firefight map. If playing a custom game, there will be a bar above the one that starts the game. Pressing this bar will bring up custom game options, including player mechanics, enemy spawns, vehicle and weapon options, and timers. The Warzone Menu plays out similarly to Firefight, but with either Warzone, or Warzone Assault. Clicking Warzone will bring up the default modes, or the Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic variant of the combined game mode Warzone Firefight. Pressing Y will not bring up the available REQs, as all REQs are usable, but will rather show the Boss layout for the map, including times and minions. Forge Menu The Forge Menu has a vertical table of options with the Start option, Map Selection, Mode Selection, Featured Builds, and the search engine from top to bottom. There are 20 different maps to choose from, as well as multiple game modes. There are ten top voted Featured Builds rotated in every week, and the search engine is for searching up any public Forge build. Settings Menu In the Settings Menu, the table is vertical yet again, with options for adjusting the audio, changing the player controls, and reviewing one's career. The career section shows the player's name, rank, service description, and emblem. There are a total of 10 premade button layouts, including Default, Southpaw, Boxer, Green Thumb, Bumper Jumper, Recon, Fishstick, Halo 4, Pashooter, and Helljumper. Controls Cutscenes Like Halo 5: Guardians and Halo 4: Spartan Ops, the cutscenes for Halo: Warhunt are made by . The same armors of the Reclaimer Saga are used in the cutscenes, and they are in-game rendered similar to most other Halo games. The graphics and framerate are similar to that of Halo 5: Guardians, with little notches here and there for improvements. One difference is the absence of terminals in the game, which removes the need for another animation studio to make cutscenes for them. Weapons Halo: Warhunt's weapon mechanics are very similar to Halo 4 and 5: Guardians, with the ability to carry two weapons at once, and if able, a turret as a third. Duel-wielding does not return, although M6C2 Magnums are always dual-wielded, similar to the Submachine Gun from . Six grenades can be carried total, with three types and two of each type. UNSC Weapons * * * Dual M6C2 Magnums * * * * * * * * * * * Covenant Weapons * * * * * T-56 Plasma Striker * * * * * * * * Campaign Setting In Halo: Warhunt, the setting changes to multiple locations. The first levels take place aboard the Infinity, while the third and later levels take place on the jungle planet Kalincton. The remainder of the levels however are either located on outer worlds in the Joint-Occupation Zone, or on space vessels. Levels Arena Modes Maps Firefight Modes Maps Loadouts Warzone Modes Maps Spartan Hub Requisitions Armors Armors are the defining part of a player, and 343 Industries incorporates a much more advanced customization system compared to Halo 4 and 5. Players have the ability to customize helmets, chestplates, shoulder pads, visors, genders, and colors as Spartans. The armors available are Gen 2, due to the Spartan-IV perspective of the game. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sangheili are also usable, but cannot be cross-customized. They have a varied range of armor sets, as well as the new feature of subspecies. Instead of customizable genders like Spartans, Sangheili can be customized to either the Hesduron or Classic subspecies, due to popular demand. The Sangheili armor permutations are as follows: * * * * * * * * Vehicles Weapons Power-Ups Miscellaneous Ranks Achievements